Witchcraftbabie

Why Your Spells Don’t Work

You set your intention. You had all the correct correspondences. You even timed your spell with the appropriate moon phase. And yet – no results. What gives? 

Failed spells happen to the best of us, and for a variety of reasons. But a spell gone wrong doesn’t necessarily mean that magic isn’t real or that you’re bad at witchcraft. Magic is complicated, and there are a lot of reasons it might not behave the way you want it to. Here are some of the most common causes of ineffective spells: 

1. Lack of real-world follow through

Magic is meant to be used as a tool to supplement your mundane efforts – not as a substitute for them. How can you expect your job hunting spell to bring in results if you aren’t applying for jobs? 

Magic does not exist in a vacuum, and it can’t make something out of nothing. If a spell doesn’t bring you the desired result, make sure that your non-magical actions are aligned with what you are trying to manifest. 

2. What you’re trying to manifest isn’t a realistic possibility

Wait, what? Isn’t magic supposed to be, well… magic? Shouldn’t you be able to ask for whatever you want and get it? Yes and no.

Magic is simply a way of directing energy. Magic can’t defy the natural laws of the universe. It can’t make something happen unless it was already a potential possibility.

If your intention is unrealistic for where you are right now, try splitting it up into a multi-step process. No spell is going to make you a billionaire overnight, but magic could help you get hired at a better paying job… and then get promoted… and then get offered a profitable side gig… etc. Starting small and working your way up is always going to produce stronger results, because you laid the foundation first.

3. Your intention was either too vague or too specific 

Whether you use written petitions or spoken incantations, clearly stating your intention is an important part (maybe THE most important part) of any spell or ritual. A good intention is specific enough to get you the results you want, but open enough to let those results manifest naturally.

Let’s say you do a money spell, and your intention for the spell is simply, “I have more money.” If you find a penny on the ground the next day and pick it up, technically that is more money than you had before. A better alternative would be to use an intention like, “I have enough money to buy ___,” or “I have enough money for everything I need and want.”

Using an intention that is too specific creates the opposite problem. Let’s say you want to manifest a scholarship to a specific school. You do a candle spell with the intention, “I have been chosen for the John Smith Scholarship at Jane Doe University.” But maybe the John Smith scholarship had already been awarded by the time you did your spell. Maybe there’s another scholarship at the same school that would be a better fit for you, or maybe you’re eligible for a grant that would make tuition more affordable. A better intention for your spell would be “I have enough financial aid to easily and affordably attend Jane Doe University.”

Magic always follows the path of least resistance, so you want to make sure that your intention is specific enough to give your magic a clear direction, but open enough to allow it some flexibility. 

4. Lack of focus/concentration

We all know the struggle. You’ve been planning this ritual forever, and it’s finally the full moon, but you’ve got a really full schedule today. If you hurry, you can probably squeeze it into the thirty minute window between school and work, right? 

If you say a few quick words and burn some incense before you head out the door in the morning, that totally counts as a spell, right? 

Not so much. Rushed, lazy, and/or half-assed spells rarely, if ever, work. Spells revolve around the raising and direction of energy, and that requires two things: a clear intention (see above) and intense focus on that intention. If you don’t have the time/energy/mental capacity to focus, it’s best to take a break, have a self care day, and come back to your spell some other time. 

5. You’re subconsciously blocking your own results OR you did a spell for someone else who isn’t open to it

I decided to lump these two together, because they’re different variations of the same issue. 

Whenever you are doing magic on yourself, it’s important that your mindset is aligned with your intentions. You can do love spells all day long, but if deep down you don’t believe that you’re worthy of love, that belief is going to block your spells from working. This is why mindfulness, psychology, and self care are all such important parts of a successful witchcraft practice. It’s also why I recommend doing the mental work before you sit down to ritual. 

If you did a spell on yourself, or are trying to manifest something for yourself, and it just isn’t working, I highly recommend setting some time aside for journaling and meditation and asking yourself 1.) if this is really what you want, and 2.) if you truly believe that you can have it.

The whole mindset thing gets even more tricky when you’re doing magic on behalf of another person, because their energy is also at work in the situation and could be at odds with yours. For example, if you do a spell to help a friend land a job, but that friend believes that they’re totally underqualified and could never get it, they probably won’t get the job even if you did everything “right” in your spell. 

This should go without saying, but it is extremely unethical to use magic to mess around in someone else’s head. Even if you think you know what’s best for them, they need to be open to it. If someone is blocking the spells you do on their behalf, all you can do is try to be supportive and find other ways to help them out.

Other (Rare) Reasons for Failed Spells

If a spell goes wrong, it will almost always be for one of the above reasons. But maybe you did everything “right” – you did the mental work first, had a strong, realistic intention, put lots of focus into your spell, and followed through in real life – and you still aren’t seeing results. There are a couple of other things that could be blocking your spells, but they’re very uncommon so I’m not going to talk about them in as much detail. These may be things you want to look into if you really, genuinely can’t think of any other cause. 

It’s possible that another witch has done magic that cancels out or blocks yours. This is not common, and it does NOT mean that someone has cursed you. It could be as simple as two witches unknowingly casting spells with opposite intentions, which end up cancelling each other out. (For example, maybe two different people both cast a spell to get the same job. Obviously, they can’t both get that job.) This is why it’s never a bad idea to incorporate a protective element into your spells to block outside interference.

There is a very, very remote possibility that someone has placed a curse on you specifically to block your magic. However – and I cannot stress this enough – this is VERY uncommon. If you were cursed you would know it, or at least know that something was very wrong in your life. If you feel like you have been cursed or hexed, I recommend looking into uncrossing spells, which are specifically designed to undo negative magic.

It’s also possible that a higher power is intervening. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a deity, although it certainly could be. Most witches believe in some form of fate or destiny, and it’s possible that your spell didn’t work because what you asked for is not in alignment with your destiny. In these situations, really the only thing you can do is surrender to the bigger picture. 

Herbs and Others for Curses, Hexes, and Jinxes

coffee/dark cocoa - causes target bitterness

Chili Powder ~ for discord, bane, curses

Mustard Seed ~ the seed of strife and discord. Leave it at one’s doorstep, particularly black mustard seed. This seed sprinkled around the trunk of a fruit tree on the first evening of the full moon will cause the tree to bear no fruit.

Onion ~ can cause strife in an enemy’s life. 

Poppy Seed ~ Causes couples to argue.

Sumac ~ for curses, hexing, bringing bad luck

Grapefruit - causes enemy sour start, but leaves a good ending

peppers - great for those spreading lies and talking general shit.  The hotter the pepper (vegetable or spice) the more intense the curse.

salt - to repel someone from reentering your life and home.

vinegar - to make someone eat their words or to stop running their mouth.

basil - for someone who owes you money.

mint - to cool someone’s anger or hatred toward you.

potato - for someone standing in your way.  carve someone’s name into the potato (or initials) and then cut it up/cook as normal.

having a wooden spoon you use ONLY for cursing magic within the kitchen.  You can inscribe/woodburn sigils and words to your liking. This is VERY useful.  Just be sure you ONLY use it for cursing and hexing for foods.

lemon/lime/any tart fruit - to stop someone’s slander, lies, and general cursing

Black pepper or ginger - add in baking mix if you want to cause the target anger.

Grated lemon - add in baking mix if you want to cause the target to be sour to others.

Black icing - colour correspondence for hexes and curses.

Stirring counter clockwise is good for undoing the actions or intent of the person you are cursing.

Stirring clockwise is for sealing/bringing to fruition.

You can do cursing/hexing in your kitchen.  Write someone’s name on a slip of paper (or take their picture) and put it in your pot and add vinegar, oils, needles/nails and herbs on the stove, intending your hex on that person.  Toss out like (preferably off your property) when done.  

Most kitchen witches, myself included, keep glass jars and bottles around.  You can take a piece of paper with the person’s name or their picture, put in a jar with oil and herbs and shake it up each time you focus your hexing intent. Obviously the more shaking you do the more intense.  Do till you feel the hexing is done and they’ve stopped their shit.

When cursing/hexing food (or doing the pot trick like I mentioned above), you can also say (from Dorothy Morrison’s Utterly Wicked, pg. 66):

The magic that’s within this dish is meant for (name of target), as is my wish.

On others who may hear its call it shall not have any effect at all.

Pure delight is all they’ll feel as they fill their plates and eat this meal.

But (name of target) it will hit magically

As I will, so mote it be.

@breelandwalker and @diary-of-demosthenes

— A complete guide to understanding your Black Moon Lilith

be sure to check out the post below first 🪐!

🤎 The various sides of Lilith

🤎 Detailed Lilith in the houses series

Hi beautiful, it’s Jenx here! As promised, I’m back with another post on Lilith:) We’ll focus more about Black Moon Lilith (h13) this time. This should help you guys with understanding the basic of your Black Moon signs & houses as well as aspects and its transits in different points in your life🤎 Lilith has always fascinated me and I truly encourage you guys to read more into my old posts linked above before reading this:)

What is Black Moon Lilith?

To successfully connecting with one’s Black Moon Lilith means that one must essentially make peace with issues regarding life, death, and rebirth.

Themes surrounding Black Moon Lilith are:

— radical, wild femininity that radiates or emanates from deep within, femininity as an emanation and not a projection that seeks to please, ruthless self-individuation, fantastically embodying the lunar/non-linear mentality, conscious and embodied power, sex as an act of divine creation, comfort in the state of ecstatic-orgasmic being, the body as a source of infinite wisdom and grace, graceful acceptance of what no longer serves us, achieving the sacred inner marriage of anima and animus/the feminine and the masculine, intuitive connection to our creative/sexual processes and their wild nature, swift identification of falsehoods in ourself and others, the ability to cut away at the falsehoods until all that remains is the essential, core, wild self – nothing more, nothing less.

Lilith In The Signs

Lilith in Aries

The Aries Lilith emerges in the great need to be respected and to feel deserving. However, a profound sense of unworthiness stands in the way of this pursuit, frequently leading advantageous possibilities to be missed. We can only obtain what we believe we earn in life, and when we believe we are undeserving, we will evade or dismiss people, jobs, or opportunities that we believe are too good for us. With Lilith in Aries, self-sabotaging is common. There may also be a need to demonstrate one’s value to others, even if it occurs in the context of  boasting. Aries Lilith fiercely protects oneself and opposes everything that contradicts one's ideals and principles. Aries Lilith typically evaluates how well they do or measure up to their own aspirations of success, identity, respect, and accomplishments. They may hold the view that one’s success and worthiness are determined by what they have obtained or achieved. They must learn not to compare themselves to others; not to judge their accomplishment by the standards of others; and to appreciate oneself as a unique expression, therefore developing consciousness. Examine any areas where you have settled for less than you planned. Consider what you would do if you were declared worthy. Make an effort to engage with this idea. Consider how important the idea of success is in your life. Consider what you are continually attempting to achieve. When you’ve found the solution, consider if you truly want it. Is it worthwhile to put forth the effort? You will achieve a natural level of internal equilibrium by developing the knowledge that you do not have to be the best in every scenario. When the Black Moon is in Aries, we have a great fear of being inadequate. This place might make romantic relationships difficult since we feel intrinsically unworthy or worthy of things like a healthy relationship. We know we’ve found true love when we accept romantic intentions from someone who sees us as successful in some manner and admires and appreciates us.

Keep reading

˳✧༚ ☽ witchy activities to strengthen your craft & relationship with yourself ☾ ˚✧⁎

☾ perform literally any type of self care! our energy is constantly being drained either in spellwork, studying, or everyday life. you deserve it. (take a shower, drink some water, make some food, etc. don’t underestimate the power of taking care of yourself!)

☾ get some air dry clay and have fun with creating! you can make witchy items such as a pendulum, pendants, offerings, amulets to write talismans/sigils on, etc. and it’s even better because you’re making it with your own intent!

☾ when stressed, take a moment to connect with mother nature. this can be done wherever, even inside. imagine you are sitting in the grass. your roots are intertwined with those in the earth. they are giving you energy and strength. remind yourself everything is in divine timing.

☾ decorate your bos/grimoire and make it more ‘you’! remember, perfection is a completely made up term to make people overwork themselves. it doesn’t exist. what works for you, is perfect. what’s made with your hands, and your mind, is perfect.

☾ create a witchy playlist for when you’re doing spellwork/studying witchcraft! music can be incredibly uplifting. i’ve even created a witchy playlist for my blog! (check it out if you want hehe)

☾ wake up with the sun, go to sleep with the moon. have daily conversations with them both. realize they are your friends and are always there for you.

☾ record when you make mistakes magically! i know, this sounds like a nightmare to most neurodivergents. but you can use this to your advantage! you will learn from them, and eventually figure out what’s works for you and what doesn’t. knowing what works for you will empower you.

☾ carve sigils into your furniture for further protection! (and i mean your furniture, not your parents, roommates or siblings. please don’t vandalize things that aren’t yours)

☾ don’t stress yourselves out over labels. it can be fun to be this and that, but there is absolutely NO obligation to call yourself a certain type of witch! i have some witch friends that simply vibe, and practice all types. you can simply be a witch if you’d like.

☾ create your own set of rules/reminders/moral code to follow (ex. bible). although a lot of witches that i’ve met usually all follow the same type of moral code; if you’re not hurting anyone/anything, or meddling in anyone’s life, do what you please.

☾ cleanse your room/home! you’ll feel better, and sleep better. you can do this with incense, sunlight, sound, or herbs (please only use white sage if you’re native or if it has been gifted to you by a native person).

☾ don’t let ANYONE tell you how to do magic! it’s your craft! it doesn’t concern anyone else but you. if someone tries to tell you you’re doing something wrong, pay them no mind. (unless they are telling you that you are appropriating a culture, or something of the sorts then LISTEN!!!!)

Better Fortune Tea Spell

You will need:

• All Natural Ginseng Tea or Herbal Mixture

• One teaspoon of Ground Ginger

• One half a teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon

• One eighth a teaspoon of Ground Nutmeg ( or one fourth depends on the person and amount of luck needed)

• Two teaspoons of sugar (or however many you want, I personally think Two is best)

• One half to One teaspoon of Honey/Agave nectar ( Optional.)

• One Lemon slice or a fourth a teaspoon of Lemon Juice

• Strong Belief and Faith

Preparing:

Begin by making your Ginseng Herbal Mixture . Then, begin adding your herbs, I find that while adding my herbs it helps to voice what they are and what i'm using them for. Add your teaspoon of Ginger for strength and energy. Stir well until fully incorporated. Proceed to add your eighth a teaspoon of nutmeg for luck, followed by your cinnamon for love and luck as well as strength and success. Stir until both herbs are well incorporated. Next add your sugar for love and flavour (mostly flavour). Stir until completely dissolved before adding (if you chose) Honey/Agave nectar can also be used for love (but mostly flavour). Finally, add in the Lemon Juice to reduce negativity (because no one needs that in their life), and to cleanse. Once you have mixed that in take a moment to pray to your deity (optional). Truly believe that your luck and fortune will change for the better and begin drinking.

THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT SUMMER

Found poem from Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” / @ijaazat / @nobodysflower / Photo by Yumi Nu 友美 in / mattivarga / claudiabhimra / Summer Kichen by Donald Hall / Mary Oliver, The Pond / kumiko hara by yoshihiro tatsuki, “pudeur” 1994 / Hear The Wind Sing, Haruki Murakami

Witchy Aesthetics

green witch: freshly pressed flowers, walking through a field of wildflowers, talking to the trees, terrariums, plants sitting on the windowsill, forest sounds

kitchen witch: cookbooks, stirring tea with intent, lots and lots of jars, herbs and more herbs, the smells of baking, tea blends swirling in jars 

storm witch: lightning crackling, calling up a storm, dancing in the rain, getting excited when you feel a storm coming, checking the weather activity

dream witch: sleepy eyes, soft blankets, meditating in the mornings to remember your dreams, reality checks, sleeping with crystals under your pillow

divination witch: wearing your pendulum as a necklace, sleeping with your tarot deck, shaky hands, too many tarot decks, meditating with your tools

sea witch: jars of seawater, walking barefooted on the sand, sitting on the beach at night, missing the seashore, balmy sea breeze, seashell collection

lunar witch: setting alarms for moon phases, talking to the moon, making moon water, getting ready for the next lunar eclipse, quiet moonlit nights

spirit witch: bonding with spirit companions, feeling the presences in a room, setting out offerings, seeing shadows out of the corner of your eyes, amethyst

fire witch: a whole bunch of scented candles, the smell of incense, cosy warmth, dancing flames, jars of ashes, almost burning the whole house down

crystal witch: keeping crystals in your pockets, crystals sitting on your windowsill under the moonlight, crystalline light reflections

water witch: way too many jars, running out in the middle of a storm to collect water, carrying a jar everywhere, shower cleansing and grounding rituals

tech witch: embedding sigils in code, stereoscopic light of a phone screen, ambient soundtracks, witchy phone apps, emoji spells, digital grimoires

music witch: jamming to your tracks over a spell, shufflemancy, headphones on earbuds in, charging tools with your speakers, playlist for every occasion

urban witch: dollar stores, carrying around their magickal tools, sigils for not missing the bus or train, finding that one witch book in local bookstores

glamour witch: sigils on the mirror, rose quartz in random places, makeup bags, looking fly, youtube channels on makeup, on-the-spot glamours

closeted witch: hiding grimoires in drawers, sigils for invisibility, waiting for everyone else to go out, performing spells behind locked doors at night

art witches: moon water in your paint cup, paint-stained fingers, charmed drawing tablet, colour corresponding your art supplies, local bookshops

you are the most important tool ❤️

Sources: 🍀 🍀 𖧷 🍀 🍀